A Southern California window manufacturer buys a former call center to set up shop and bring jobs to Fairfield.
A Southern California manufacturer of vinyl-covered aluminum-frame windows and glass doors aimed at homebuilders is planning to open an assembly plant in Solano County.
An affiliate managed by Daniel Schwartz, CEO of ATI Windows Inc., purchased a 103,128-square-foot former call center at 5253 Business Center Drive in the two-building Green Valley Technical Plaza complex in the Cordelia area of Fairfield on Dec. 4, 2024, for $11.5 million, according to public records and the real estate agents involved.
ATI Windows is described as a venture of Riverside-based The Right Window Company, a family-owned and -operated operation said to have been started over four decades ago and has locations in Las Vegas and Phoenix, according to its website. The company didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
One indication of what’s planned for Fairfield is a similar purchase in the Central Valley a quarter-century ago. The Schwartz family purchased a 143,000-square-foot former beverage alcohol distribution warehouse in Stockton in 1999 to set up an assembly plant for ATI Windows, employing several dozen on a “highly automated” line, according to trade news website GlassOnline.
The Stockton location isn’t listed among ATI’s sites on its website. A former welder-fabricator posted on the online jobs board Indeed about being laid off from the plant when it closed in 2007.
Interestingly, another Schwartz family affiliate sold the Stockton building in July 2017 to an affiliate of Emeryville-based Granite Expo for $6.51 million, according to public records. Another affiliate of Granite Expo purchased the other Green Valley Technical Plaza building in Fairfield (5251 Business Center) in May 2023 for $7 million, records showed. The maker of countertops and similar surfaces opened the Fairfield showroom and production location last year, The Press Democrat reported.
Green Valley Technical Plaza was built in 2001 as a call center for California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund, which provides coverage to businesses for worker injuries, according to Chris Neeb, a JLL real estate agent who was involved in the Granite Expo sale and lease deals. The buildings had been mostly vacant since then.
Repurposing the underutilized office building for new purposes was a standard planning review and zoning change, but it also required significant creativity from the city’s permitting and economic development teams, according to Dave Zellers, director of the department.
“We recognize there are these buildings, and they’re great opportunities — maybe not for their intended use but for something that will give it new life,” Zellers said. “And this is a great example of that.”
Fairfield has seen other similar conversion attempts, such as an office building that was approved for mini-storage use but ultimately is remaining as office space after the owner has found an undisclosed new tenant.
Zellers said it took collaboration between the Planning Commission, the City Council and the public. The first application for rezoning the property from commercial office to industrial business park came in late 2022. The commission initially rejected the rezoning in early 2023, saying that the north Cordelia area needed office space.
City Council hearings in late 2023 and early last year resulted in a compromise that retained the office zoning but allowed light-manufacturing, non-warehouse uses in the area around Green Valley Technical Plaza. ATI Windows building also was allowed to have truck doors added to allow for pickups and deliveries.
“We want to have those conversations with the development and real estate investment community to say, ‘Are there ways to pivot into other things?’“ Zellers said. ”We’re a pro-housing community. We want more density. We want to bring more people here.”
In the sale of 5253 Business Center, Brooks Pedder, Tony Binswanger and Matt Post of CBRE represented the buyer, Oulette DS LLC, and seller, Eastbourne Investments Ltd.
Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Reach him at [email protected] or 707-521-4256.
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